Tech News In Short – By Vishal Dutia

A few other teenagers about to commit suicide and complete the Blue Whale dare have been saved in the nick of time.

Despite efforts to curb the ‘game’, Blue Whale continues to claim lives. Recently, a 14-year-old boy is believed to have fallen prey to the Blue Whale dare. The class 10 boy from Midnapore, West Bengal, Ankan Dey is believed to have suffocated to death as part of the challenge. Though it is unclear if it was because of the challenge that he committed suicide, his friends say that he was part of the Blue Whale dare and had performed the other dares before the final one.

According to a report by CNN News18, on Saturday, when Dey did not come out of the bathroom for a long time, his family got suspicious and broke down the door. Inside they found him sprawled on the ground with his face inside a plastic bag, a thin towel tied tightly around his neck. He had apparently suffocated himself as part of Blue Whale. The police is investigating the matter. It is unclear whether the boy was depressed or was facing some other issues, because of which he joined the challenge. Neighbors claim that he was a “decent boy” and that they saw nothing wrong in his behavior. However, Ankan was known to be addicted to online gaming.

Police have seized his father’s computer as well as Dey’s mobile phone, believed to have been used for the challenge. Dey’s friends claim that he came upon the Blue Whale dare and began to follow it. He even boasted about it to some of his friends, informing them that he would soon teach them the dare and they could participate in it together. However, he never mentioned any of the steps to them. His friends are unsure if Dey knew the repercussions of the dare and how deadly it was, or simply began to follow it for fun and later got addicted. His family members claim to have no knowledge of any such challenge.

The first incident of the Blue Whale dare happened in Mumbai where a 13-year olf committed suicide. He even posted a picture of himself committing the act on Instagram where he spoke of the Blue Whale challenge. At least two other deaths of teenagers addicted to Blue Whale have been averted in the past in India. Blue Whale has claimed hundreds of lives all over the globe, with majority being from Europe. Teenagers from Russia too are quickly falling prey to the dare. The internet regulators are baffled by the rise in the challenge and the teenagers who follow it unknowingly and get hooked, or see it as an easy way to end their miseries. ALSO READ: Teenager leaves home to finish Blue Whale challenge; rescued

The Blue Whale challenge comprises of 30-tasks (one on each day) and each task gets more and more threatening. It encourages users to follow to the last step, which is taking one’s life. The maker of the claims to want to rid the world of weak minded individuals who are a biological waste, according to him. The Blue Whale dare is a carefully regulated challenge where participants are first given test tasks to check their excitement before the actual challenge begins. The game is played over a Russian social media site, similar to Facebook and in order to participate, users need to user certain hashtags associated with the game. The game is soon gaining popularity in India among youngsters.